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“Young Cubans gathered around a domino table under the sole streetlight at midnight in Arroyo Naranjo.”

My father always warned me that if you are interested in buying or renting a new home you need to ask the neighbors what they think of the area, and then go back during the evening hours to see what the neighborhood is like when everyone is done working and has had a few cocktails. And so it happened that I found myself walking down a dark street in Arroyo Naranjo—my neighborhood just outside Centro Habana— at nearly midnight back in September. I was relieved to see the same tranquility the neighborhood had during the day. We walked up the hill on San Leonardo, in the middle of the empty street. I enjoyed the silence, the clean air and the cool night breeze…all things I had been missing while living in the middle of el Vedado right off the Malecon. The only noise I heard was a slight clicking and shuffling of plastic that got louder as we approached the top of the hill. There, under the sole streetlight, was a group of young Cubans playing dominoes on an old card table as the neighborhood slept around them. They sat, silently and studiously examining their pieces and shuffling them around the board, occasionally grimacing, smiling or muttering some phrase that sounded like gibberish to me, a domino outsider. There was something poetic about the sight… beautiful, romantic and undeniably Cuban.

Being from the United States, the only time I ever remember seeing someone playing dominoes when I was growing up was on t.v. In recent years as I went to Miami on research trips, I would sit outside Máximo Gómez Domino Park and watch the little old Cuban men smoke cigars, sip Cuban coffee and sit for hours playing dominoes with their fellow Cuban-Americans. The park has a distinct Cuban energy, even in comparison to the rest of Hialeah. Standing among these men engaged in a game so clearly a part of their culture and tradition made me feel like I was in a park in Habana. During a point in my life when I was so desperate to make it to the island, even if only for a day, this was my little piece of Cuba in the US.

Years later, dreams of making it to Cuba realized, I find myself walking through the streets of Habana and its surrounding neighborhoods daily. I see the same faces of old Cuban men; strong, wise and wrinkled by years of struggle and hardship, just like the men in Miami. They drink their cafecitos, smoke cigars, and play domino from dawn ‘til dusk. But here in Cuba it is not just old men sitting around tables all day debating politics and baseball. In Cuba, every Cuban is a part of the game, and the game is a part of every Cuban. Of course, there are still tables of old men debating baseball (very loudly)… but in today’s Cuba their grandchildren or wives may be playing at the next table, or upstairs in their home. Claudia Rodriguez Gustavan, 21-year-old Habana native, told me,

In all of Cuba they play domino on any corner. Now it is part of the cubano. Without domino, there is no cubano. Without cubanos, there is no domino. It is part of us.

“Cuban men of various ages sit outdoors playing domino beside a storefront in La Palma”

The History & Basic Elements of Domino in Cuba:

Originally an Ancient Chinese game, domino has been a part of Cuban culture for generations. (An understandable cultural overlap considering the presence of Chinese culture—as well as Spanish, African, and to some extent Jamaican and Haitian— in Cuban history.) Bruno Hourin, a 71-year-old cubano from Arroyo Naranjo, told me his grandfather taught him the game over 60 years ago, adding that the game has “an eternally historic value.” Indeed, for Cubans, domino more than just a game. Juan Manuel Rodriguez, a 61-year-old man from Villa Clara, explained that domino also “forms groups, creates teams, creates friendships and helps in moments when people are having personal problems.” In addition, the game creates bonds between generations as the game is passed down to children and grandchildren and develops essential skills within Cuban children like mathematics and strategy.

Typically, domino is played with 4 players making up 2 teams of partners. Yet describing the basics of the game beyond this is complicated, as there are various forms of domino played throughout the island. In the Oriente, the eastern portion of the island famous for cane fields, beautiful landscapes and being the birthplace of the Cuban struggle for Independence, Cubans play a more basic version of domino. In the traditional domino of the Oriente, the game is played with 28 pieces, from 0-0 to 6-6, and the game ends when one team reaches 20 points. In Habana, the game is played with 55 pieces, from 0-0 to 9-9, and the game ends when one team reaches 100 points.

For Cubans, who love arguing as much as cafecito and chicharron, the merits of either form of domino versus the other is as good a topic as any for debate. A few days ago I sat in my own living room and watched as two Cubans from el campo, both now living in Habana, discussed rather heatedly whether their traditional form of domino was more or less difficult, or even deserved to be called domino. The debate lasted for about 20 minutes, ending in a stalemate when they both agreed this was not worth getting upset over. (If you want to see upset in a debate among Cubans, go to the Parque Central in Centro Habana to listen to the men debate baseball…which can end in screaming and street fights.)

In Habana, the game starts much like Scrabble. The fichas (**if you see an italicized word that you do not recognize, scroll to the guide at the bottom for help) are all turned face down and shuffled around the table. Then each player selects 10 fichas and places them in his or her fichero so no one else can see them. The player with the highest double piece plays that piece to start the game (in the Oriente, this would be 6-6, in Habana, 9-9). If none of the layers have the 6-6 or 9-9, the next highest piece starts. And so the game goes on, playing by matching numbers to the pieces played at either extreme of the board (or cabeza) until someone runs out of pieces or no one has a move. Several rounds of this sort are played until a pair will have sufficient points to win the entire game.

“Domino tables line the patio of a local retirement home, where elderly Cubans gather all afternoon socializing and enjoying the Cuban pastime.”

The Players & The Game in Action:

The energy and atmosphere of a game of dominoes in Cuba depends on the players involved in the game. Some players take the game very seriously and can play for hours in complete silence, while other more recreational players will engage in conversation, gossip, jokes and lively domino banter, shouting the names of each number as they play a ficha. (See guide for examples of the names.)

The men of the older generation are typically those serious players who prefer to play in silence. (I learned this several weeks ago when I approached a table of old cigar-smoking cubanos playing domino on the street and attempted to engage them in domino conversation and was unceremoniously dismissed.) Yet just as often, they men play socially with friends from the neighborhood as a way to unwind after work. 22-year-old teacher David Nieto from Arroyo Naranjo told me he plays practically every day on his block with a group of guys in the park. A few blocks away from my house at the Casa de los Abuelos, Bruno and dozens of other elderly Cubans, both men and women, gather every day on the patio and play domino for hours while gossiping and asking about each others families.

Cuban women today are also enthusiastic domino players. All of the women I spoke with about domino admitted to being regular players with groups of friends, family or neighbors. Teresa Trujillo, a 49-year-old University of Habana Professor from Habana, called domino, “my favorite sport.” Teresa told me how she had passed the game on to her daughter, adding, “It is also important to teach the children domino from a young age because it gives them agility and skills with mathematics.”

These Cuban children play the game regularly, as a means to have fun with their friends. However, the general consensus among my interviewees is that actual strategy and understanding of the technical aspects of the game do not develop until around age 15. Hamin, Alexia and John Carlo, all 12 and under, told me they started playing domino at age 5 or 6. When asked what their favorite domino memory was, all three told me about the first time they won a game. Indeed, domino is a game for the entire family, and is often enjoyed by the entire family at once. It is not uncommon to see an entire family gathered around a table during the evening hours, at a family party or all together at the beach, playing domino.

So if all Cubans everywhere play domino, why is it that we only ever see images or the old men with a cigar one hand and a domino in the other? Why do the tourists walking through Habana Vieja rarely see tables of women or children playing domino in the streets? The answer to this is access. (Just because you do not see something, does not mean that it is not there.) The children I spoke with talked about playing domino at birthday parties, family parties, or in the homes of cousins or friends. Similarly, the women play domino with family or socially in the homes of friends during the day. Often, if it the men who socialize outdoors, playing domino in the street for all the world to see.

“A group of young Cubans play domino while standing guard at the local grade school during a holiday in October.”

The Game Over Time:

In 1977, New York Times journalist George Volsky wrote an article on the “Cuban Refugees” in Miami and their favorite pastime, dominoes. His interviews with a group of Cubans who left the island in the years (or in some cases days) following the Revolution mostly resulted in the same story of Cubans and domino that exists today on the island. Men gathered in a park from 10 am until 11:30 pm when the park closes, many of them then taking the game indoors until the wee hours of the morning. [1] Only one thing was dramatically different between the dominoes of the older generations of upper and middle-class Cubans living in Miami in the 70’s and the game today: the role of women. Teresa Mendez, one of the women interviewed by Volsky, said, “A decent woman shouldn’t play the game. If someone were to ask me whether I do, I would regard it as an insult.” Yet Romamaria, wife of a local working-class Cuban and domino champ, said of her husbands skepticism towards playing with women, “He’s just afraid we’ll beat him!,” going on to brag about how well their daughter played the game.[2] This indicates that the view of women in domino was as much class-based as due to generational traditions.

Though domino was once a game reserved for men in some circles in Cuba and Miami, this has certainly changed in society today. Yet Maria Josefa Mariño Pi, 49-year-old cubana from Yara, speculates on reasons Cuban women may have been absent from the game in the past:

In the early years of the revolution those [women] who did not play—it was for lack of time because they were busy studying or working…and later, with the passing of time with the conditions that have been created with the presence of equipment like the reina and rice cooker…the women have more time…and they have more access to all of society. Now when they have time they play domino.

If class or generational restrictions once existed that limited the access women had to the game, they have now all but disappeared. While there are still traditional housewives in areas of the Oriente (the Cuban countryside) whose schedules do not allow them time for domino, cubanas of all ages and economic backgrounds here in Habana are absolutely wild for the game.

Domino has played an additionally vital role as a means to maintain a strong sense of unity among the Cuban people, which many Cubans hail as the strongest aspect of their society. In a society rich in culture and tradition, domino provides Cubans of all walks of life a chance to join together in friendly (or sometimes fierce) competition and preserve the Cuban tradition of domino. Indeed, when asked about the social value of the game, many Cubans I interviewed touched on this very issue. Clara Hernandez, a 62-year-old cubana from Regla, explained, “the social value [of domino] is that it unites people of different ages and economic backgrounds.” David Nieto added that, “it brings together people from different zonas.” This has ultimately strengthened the role of domino in Cuban society to the point that Juan Rodriguez stated,

Domino is part of la vida cubana; like congris and tostones. It is a tradition.

Though the game of domino and its presence in Cuba has not changed over the decades, the world around it has. So how does domino stay popular among young Cubans living in a PlayStation generation? Though Teresa Trujillo explained that it is easy to start children playing domino from an early age because “the rules are really simple,” developing a strategy and real knack for the game is not so simple. In his article on domino, George Volsky explained, “While luck might influence the outcome of one hand, in the long run the ability to memorize all the moves and the understanding between partners makes the difference between average and good players.” After speaking with some of the younger Cubans, it is clear that the strong societal value of education and intelligence plays a strong role in the continued popularity of domino among the children in Cuba, and that developing these skills to become one of the “good” players is something they aspire to.

The responses of these young Cubans when asked about the value of domino compared to PlayStation or poker really speaks to the societal values of relationships and education in Cuba. 10-year-old John Carlo told me he likes domino because “you need a lot of intelligence and agility…It is a tradition. You can make friends and it makes you smart.” 12-year-old Alexis explained, “for me, I like [domino] more than cards or other games also because it is a complete game….you are looking at what you have to do, trying to darle pase the other person that is after you…and it is fun.” While they admit the other games available are also fun, and they play those as well, these children recognize from a young age the value of the skills learned in domino. I think it is safe to say that as long as Cuban children continue to hold these values and Cubans continue to pass the game on to their children and grandchildren, domino will remain a part of Cuban culture, and youth culture, regardless of the new technology available.

“A group of domino players and onlookers gather in Centro Habana on a Sunday afternoon in September.”

A US American’s Observations of el domino in Cuba:

While researching this article, I was unable to think of any comparable game in our culture as Cubans have with domino. In many ways, I have found the game similar to Scrabble, both in the way the game is played and the strategy and skills it teaches…yet groups of kids in Chicago and Austin are not sitting around tables at parties playing Scrabble and reminiscing about their first game with their grandfather. Instead, they are playing Call of Duty or Texas Hold ‘Em.

Groups of young Cuban men gather around card tables playing dominoes for hours every day with the same enthusiasm of the groups of our young men playing poker, yet they scoff at the thought of playing for money, maintaining that the benefit of winning is the intangible knowledge that you and your partner outwitted and out-strategized the other team. They develop connections with their partners, form friendship, socialize, strategize, and perpetuate a valuable tradition. Domino for Cubans is a transtemporal and transnational phenomenon; it has survived for generations, formed a part of the culture of the Cuban community in Miami and strengthened bonds between neighborhoods and families. In Habana and Hialeah, el domino is and will remain a part of the cubano.

“The double fichas. In the Oriente, the game is played only to 6-6.”

Cubanisms, Cuban Dichos and el Domino:

While researching this article I had the opportunity to sit and quietly observe a few games in action, asking questions only between manos, and only when everyone was in a good mood. Unfortunately, after watching these games I was even more confused about how things work as I was before I had really watched a game. Domino in Cuba is like an entirely new language. There are special phrases and expressions and gestures, and it is impossible to understand the game without understanding their meaning. Now, thanks to the help of my neighbor Davis, who sat patiently with me for over an hour explaining the game from start to finish and helping me construct a domino dichos list for my katieincuba readers, I think I have it down! The following is a handy guide to understanding Cuban domino and strategy:

Domino dichos

darle pase Playing a piece that you know the next person can not play off of, so they will have to pass.

tocar The player taps or knocks on the tableto indicate that he has no move and is passing.

ficha The name for the domino pieces

fichero The name for the wooden piece used to holdthe fichas.

dar agua/mover The act of shuffling the pieces before the players choose their fichas.

zapatero / pollona A shutout. The name for a game when thelosing team finishes with 0 points.

culillo An epic turnaround. For example, if one team has only one point to go before winning and the other pair has 0 and the losing team ends up winning the game.

mano The name for each round of the game. Often, many manos are played before a team has enough points to win.

matar cabeza When one team catches on to the strategy of another and steals their next move from them by blocking a play.

cabeza The name for the extreme ends of the playing area where new fichas are placed to move the game forward.

tanto The name of the points that go towards the score of the winning pair at the end of each mano.

Forro If you make a mistake and accidentally place the ficha on the wrong cabeza.

Trancado What is called when absolutely no one has a ficha they can play. When this happens, the pair of the person who has the lowest number when adding the number on each of the fichas wins, and they take the points of the losing couple.

Names for the domino pieces (fichas)

0 la blanca, la que le gusta al negro, blanquizal de haraco

1 el unicornio, el que saca al guey de fango, la uña, el solitario

2 el Duque (Hernandez) –In honor of the Cuban-born Yankees Player

3 el triste, la tripa, el tribilin

4 cuaba, cuarenta y más murieron, cuatrero que roban vacas

5 sin comer no se puede vivir, sin queño pati plumo, quintin bandera

6 se hizo el loco, ceiba

7 el honor de un hombre, 7 mil y más murieron

8 Ochoa Mendieta

9 nuevecito, nuevita puerto el mar

6-6 pareja guey

9-9 la que más pesa

“The game expands as players place new fichas at one of the 2 cabezas of the playing area.

[Interviews]

*All interviews used in katieincuba are conducted and recorded in person by the author, or using distributed questionnaires filled out by Cuban interviewees. Translations from Spanish done by author after interviews.

Teresa Trujillo, 49 year old University of Habana Professor from Habana.

Interview date: 29 September 2011.

Claudia Rodriguez Gustaván, 21 year old computer technician from Habana.

Davis Hernandez Tus, 46 year old clinical lab tech from Punto de Maisi.

Interview Date: 15 November 2011

[Interview Questions]

1) At what age did you buy or receive your first domino game?

2) At what age did you start playing domino?

3) At what age did your children start playing domino? (if applicable)

4) Do you play with a regular group or with different people every time?

5) Do you know if there are any domino clubs or groups in your neighborhood? Tournaments? Domino meeting places/parks? Famous players?

6) What is your favorite memory or an interesting story about domino?

7) What is your favorite thing about domino? How would you compare domino to other games like cards of video games?

8) In your opinion, what is the social value of domino? What is the role in domino in Cuban life?

9) Have you played for money or prizes, or just for recreation?

10) What is the longest round of domino you have heard of?

11) * for elderly Cubans * As someone with more life experience than the others I have interviewed, can you comment on aspects of domino that may have changed over the years? (for example, the participation of women, playing for money, the popularity of the game in Cuban society…)

[Footnotes]

[1]Volsky, George, “Domino Games are Dominant Pastime for Many Cuban

Refugees in Miami,” 1 October 1977, New York Times, 39.

[2] ibid.

“The game starts with the person with the highest double, ideally 9-9 (or 6-6 in Oriente)”

Welcome to Part II of my “Wow, I’m in Cuba” series for travelers! As I mentioned previously, this 5-part series will cover:

-Mental preparation for travel abroad

-Differences between traveling alone and traveling with a group

-Language and cultural differences

-Navigating your way through a new city

-Physically adapting to a new environment

In this post, I will compare a trip I took to Cuba in June of this year with a Witness for Peace delegation to my current experiences as a single traveler, highlighting the primary differences and challenges for those considering traveling abroad solo.

If you are planning to travel abroad with a tour group, a student group, or simply as a large family vacation, you can expect less responsibility for daily activities and details. With tour groups or delegations, needs including housing, food, events, transportation and translators will likely be pre-arranged and included in your package price. Similarly, with a student group you will be among peers, housing and food will be included, and you will have access to host families and academic institutions to facilitate your language course studies. While traveling with family you have the benefit and comfort of traveling with loved ones and can share the responsibilities for planning excursions, hotel choices and meal plans. All of this changes dramatically when traveling alone.

1) Access & Planning

Traveling with a tour group eliminates the hassle of having to plan excursions, wasting precious hours of your travel days waiting in lines for tickets, and hoping you are not missing out on some other event or location that you did not know about. However, these group excursions will likely be pre-arranged and mandatory, denying you opportunities to go off exploring on your own if that is your thing. I remember resenting this in June, cursing the fact that I was stuck in group activity when I wanted to go and explore the city, see the old buildings, walk through the Plaza de Armas, see some of the beaches, talk to random strangers…anything but sitting around talking to a bunch of Americans…after all, if that was what I wanted, I would have stayed home!

However, the people and locations we had access to as a part of a group affiliated with a well-known and respected Cuban institution proved to be invaluable! We were able to meet with the Minister of Education, attend private music and dance workshops, have tours of the Museum of the Literacy Campaign and the Latin American School of Medicine, visit a daycare in Pinar del Rio, and a school for children with special needs and an elementary school in Habana. Also, since our delegation was through the Martin Luther King Center in Marianao (a neighborhood in Habana), and both our group leader and translator were Cubans, we had the benefit of learning about Cuba from Cubans.

Being here now by myself I realize how difficult it is to arrange these things on your own. I had few personal contacts in Habana before my arrival, and it has been an exhausting process making arrangements for different types of research visas, learning where different libraries and archives are, and finally finding the Jose Marti National Library only to discover that they are closed for renovations until October. Yet as frustrating and exhausting as the process continues to be as I try to integrate myself into the history/research circuit here, it has also made the process more authentic and helped me to learn how things work and what the “pace” is in Habana.

On the positive side of having to plan for yourself, it allows for spontaneity and activities to fit your personal tastes. I finally got to go to a beach (with minimal sunburn for a change), I can wander aimlessly through markets, I woke up one morning and decided to go for a walk on the Malecon and ended up in Habana Vieja, making the round trip from Vedado in about 4 hours… and I have explored the cultural life of the city, attending a concert, the theater, the National Ballet and an art exhibit. If you like planning for yourself, it can be a very rewarding experience.

2) Companionship

Having lived alone for several years in Texas and North Carolina, I did not expect to have a problem being by myself in Cuba. I fancy myself an independent woman and I have a good sense of my surroundings, so I rarely worry about my physical safety. That being said, you cannot “be an island” while living on an island. Being alone in a foreign country can be oppressively lonesome, and getting over initial social hesitations and making friends can be a challenge for some.

When traveling with a group or family, this issue is less urgent, as you have built-in companionship. Yet I urge those traveling with a group to not limit themselves to communicating only with the group. Remember, if you wanted to talk to Americans you could have stayed home, right?

As I mentioned in Part I, it is important to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about a new culture, language and society. The BEST way to learn about a country is through its people. Talk to as many people as you can…cab drivers, street vendors, people at the bus stop, your waiter, anyone!! The more people you talk to the more you will start to learn about the country.

Also, you will start to feel like less of a “foreigner” as you start to make friends. For example, as I head to school in the mornings I exit my building and wave at the man who handles the street parking outside our door. Monday through Friday before classes, I walk to the same “cafeteria” for my coffee and chat with the nice old man about my classes and the weather (post on this upcoming, as these cafeterias are not like the southern cafeterias in the US), after class I either go to the Institute of History, where I am slowly getting to know all the employees, or head home, stopping on the way at another coffee stand where I chat with another nice old Cuban man. Compare this to my first few days where I went straight to school, came straight home, worked on my research and homework and sat in my room and watched movies because I was uncomfortable wandering alone, and you can see the value of human interaction.

So to all travelers, I urge you to talk to at least 5 strangers every day (totally arbitrary number selection), and remember that the best insight into a country is the people.

3) Daily Needs

Back home, daily needs and activities such as groceries, eating out and housing needs are part of our routine…If you need groceries you go to Jewel (or HEB or Harris Teeter or Kroger depending on where my readers are logging on from). If you do not feel like cooking you can go out to Panera or Ruths Chris, depending on your budget. If you are thirsty and lucky enough to live in the Chicagoland area where our Lake Michigan water is mighty delicious, you just walk over to the faucet. If you need a new apartment or home you talk to your friends or go on rent.com or call a realtor. In the world you know and are comfortable in, all these things are relatively simple. When traveling with a group, many of these things are taken care of by the organizer, or you can be sure someone can point you in the right direction. Yet these simple needs of daily life can be a struggle while transitioning in a new country by yourself.

As with many places in the world, the idea of a massive one-stop-shop like Walmart does not exist in Cuba. I go to one place for my eggs, another for produce, another for miscellaneous, and know that some things can be at one place one day and another (or nowhere) the next. (And if you are looking for tomatoes out of season people look at you like you are insane!) I am just not starting to learn where each of these places are located, but there are no big signs for these stores in many instances so, like everything else, it has been a process.

As far as eating out, I just today had my first experience getting food at a cafeteria by myself!!! (A very proud moment for me!) As I am budgeting for a year, the restaurants are prohibitively expensive and I will likely go only on special occasions. Luckily, the streets of Habana are loaded with delicious street food from sandwiches to croquetas to pizza for incredibly cheap prices! However, you rarely see foreigners at these places by themselves, and it took me a while to get up the courage to stop at a cafeteria for lunch. (**Notice this was not the case for coffee…I could sooner live without food than coffee, and since I have not yet learned to make Cuban coffee I started stopping in to coffee places during my very first week.)

Luckily for me, housing was not an issue during my trip as I was referred to a wonderful woman with a casa particular in el Vedado by one of my professors. However, several of my classmates ended up having to stay in hotels for the first week or so—a significant expense— while searching for housing. In Cuba, licensed casa particulares are available for foreigners who prefer not to stay in a hotel. My best description of most is that they can range anywhere from a hostel-type setting to a host family to a shared or individual apartment, depending on the area and your budget. These are the best option for those on a budget or staying for an extended time, but can be difficult to research or contact from the US for reasons I will not get into. (If you are interested in researching casas in Habana, look into Conner Gorry’s APP “Havana Good Time”, which includes a list of casa particulares along with their prices, locations and contact information.)

Like everything else, you can adapt to these changes in daily life with time and patience!

Making the decision to travel alone or with a group ultimately depends entirely on your personality and comfort level. Since my trip is very lengthy, the time I have lost to “figuring things out”, waiting in line and getting helplessly lost TWICE near the capitolio is not going to take away from my overall experience. However, if you are traveling for only 1 or 2 weeks I recommend a group or some form of travel agency to help you with your planning so you can make the most of every day.

During a recent delegation to la habana, I learned why people so often associate Cubans and Cuba with dance and music! Spontaneous dance parties erupted all around us, in courtyards and buses, restaurants and walkways. I have always been a fan of Cuban music, but was unprepared for the dancing. Cubans can dance!!! So skillfully and effortlessly it puts me to shame (not that I would ever pretend to be a dancer….I have VERY limited moves.) However, it seems the Cubans are born with an innate rhythm and when they dance it is a powerful demonstration of culture and history and passion and sensuality unlike anything I have ever seen. I fear the best I can ever hope for is to not embarrass myself entirely while on the dance floor with a Cuban….I am not optimistic.

My apologies for dismal lighting conditions and poor “videography” skills evident in these videos…..I am not an artist!!! (I cook and I doodle, that is about it…) However, here are a few examples of music and dance culture around Havana as seen during a June 2010 delegation to the island.

I have posted two videos on YouTube from an afternoon at an Afro-Cuban cultural exhibit/courtyard in la habana. One of these videos emphasizes the music heard at the exhibit, and the other showcases the traditional dance we had the opportunity to see. I hope to gain more background information on this location during my time in Cuba and will have a future post on the artwork and artists themselves.

The other set of videos is from a show our delegation attended at a Havana theater on traditional Cuban/Afro-Cuban dance and music, including a demonstration of Cuban salsa dancing and musical performances with incredible percussion and group vocals. I apologize for the poor lighting in the theater, I took the video (as well as all the photographs used in my blog) with my little pink Canon Elf…so this is not professional equipment!!